The COVID-19 pandemic has destabilized almost all professions, especially hospitals, rehabilitation centers, private clinics, and the healthcare community. And as we navigate the new normal of living in the pandemic, the critical role of physiotherapy emerged and became an inseparable part of public health.
Physiotherapy is a profession that evaluates, diagnoses, and treats disorders that can be inherited or acquired. Physiotherapists are movement and function experts who collaborate with clients and other allied health professionals to enhance functional outcomes.
Physical therapy assists people of all ages with medical disorders, illnesses, or injuries that impair their ability to move and function regularly. A personalized physical therapy program can assist individuals in recovering their level of functioning while encouraging activities and lifestyle modifications that can help prevent subsequent injury and enhance overall health and well-being. Because physical therapy is considered a conservative method of condition management, primary care providers usually send patients to it at the first indication of a problem.
How Do Physiotherapists Provide Essential Services?
It is essential to acknowledge physiotherapists and healthcare workers around the world who were on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic. In almost all countries, physiotherapists have been urged to give critical care to patients who require emergency treatment. Various healthcare workers and physiotherapists have begun entering people’s homes with personal protection equipment to deliver physiotherapy at home to clients who would physically decline without these treatments. Therapists at hospitals have been redeployed and changed practice fields to serve areas in need better.
Physiotherapists have the academic knowledge and experience to address the needs of preventive care on an individual and community level. Physiotherapists recognize the significance of greater health determinants and the factors that might affect an individual and a population’s health status. Physiotherapists, as members of a collaborative interdisciplinary primary health care team, can help promote wellness and disease prevention methods and identify and treat a wide range of health issues. Physiotherapists are healthcare practitioners who specialize in movement and function and have the knowledge, abilities, and qualifications to adapt physical exercise to the general public and to people dealing with chronic disease in particular. Not only does this include strength training but also ergonomics, lifestyle changes, and awareness. Physiotherapists play a crucial role in public health and in preventing noncommunicable illnesses, which are the bane of modern sedentary lives.
It’s inspiring to witness how dedicated and resilient every healthcare professional delivering urgent care to patients. And despite the risks of the virus, their patient’s health has been their #1 priority. From physiotherapists who volunteer to visit long-term care homes to providing personal support to workers in vulnerable long-term care facilities; and those who have expanded their role to encompass all the profession has to offer.
Physiotherapists worldwide continue to provide personalized care to their patients and successfully established safe virtual rehabilitation platforms and tailoring their approach to each new client evaluation. Physiotherapy services are an essential aspect of the healthcare system because they can help people regain and preserve their mobility, function, and well-being.
